Halo ODST: The true vastness
by Skarfly
Summary: Daniels and his two squadmates, Harvest and Young, crash land on Equestria. But there is more than a spell gone wrong to blame for their presence on this peaceful planet.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Déjà vu

It was the year 2552, the human race is at war with an alien alliance known only as 'The Covenant'

We are losing

The covenant have burned uncountable planets, killing millions. Our only victories are little, and not well spread. Our only hope is that some miracle will save us, by now you may be thinking that this is a tale of the Master Chief, The last surviving Spartan.

Well you'd be dead wrong

Instead this is the tale of a small team of 3 ODSTs, known as the Delta Squadron, known for their acts of daring and downright insanity.

The explosive expert was named Colonel Benjamin Harvest, he was the funny guy who tended to joke when it wasn't necessary, his weapon of choice was the DMR, and his armor had a bright orange highlight

The pilot and technician was named Pvt. Ashley Young, she was the one who didn't no crap from nobody, her weapon was the Battle Rifle, she chose a soft blue highlight

The leader was named Lieutenant Joseph Daniels, he was the one who tried to keep the squad under control, his favorite weapon was the assault rifle, and he went with a dark green highlight

The Delta Squadron was currently on the planet of Earth, the human homeworld. The Master Chief was returning from Halo, and the squadron was supposed to be on the Athens while he was.

Right now, the group was in the back of a pelican in the shuttle bay

"When do you think the Covenant will find Earth?" Harvest asked, fiddling with a remote

"Pray to god it doesn't happen Ben" Young said

"They'll find it eventually" Daniels sighed, looking out to the planet, "It'll come down to it once they find it."

"Hey, it'd save us the pain of waiting for it." Harvest shrugged

"Knock it off" Young said, "This ship's controls won't fix themselves."

"Colonel" Daniels said, "When do you think they'll find it?"

Harvest stood next to his superior officer, squinting into the vastness of space

"Do you see that?" he asked

Daniels turned on his VISR, and drew in a sharp breath

He saw the outline of several ships, covenant, there was no doubt

"_Athens, you have boarding craft off your port side._" The admiral warned

"Young, Harvest! Get armed and get dangerous!" Daniels barked, grabbing an assault rifle

The trio stayed inside the pelican, hoping to get the jump on the boarding craft

When the elites landed, they looked around to make sure there was no opposition in the room, Daniels and his squadmates hunkered out of sight.

There was a low laugh of victory from the elite

Daniels smirked, these elites were doing a sloppy job, this may be easier than he expected.

He drew his knife, sneaking up behind a grunt, grabbing it and slitting its throat before it could even think about yelping

The ODST hid the body, intending to kill all of the covenant in the room the same way

He heard someone clear their throat from behind him

The elite looked none too pleased that Daniels was in the room

"Uh… Fancy meeting you here."

The elite drew an energy sword, the most deadly of covenant close range weapons

Daniels fired the assault rifle, but the elite swatted it out of his hands

Harvest jumped on the elite's back, stabbing his knife into his skull

The team was far past saying thanks, there was curt nod. And Young began to fire at the rest of the covenant in the room

Daniels acquired the nearest weapon, the energy sword on the floor

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" Young called over the gunfire

"How hard can it be?" Daniels called back

The covenant retreated into their ships and left

"Was that it?" Harvest laughed, "That was easy!"

"Too easy" Daniels said, "Get on the pelican, we're following them."

Daniels and the rest of the team weren't known for asking permission before pursuing the covenant, and it had saved their lives several times

Young got to the controls; Daniels and Harvest settled in and checked their ammo counters

Young piloted the pelican out of the side of the Athens, firing the chain gun at any banshees stupid enough to get close enough

The pelican cleared the Athens, then there was a shockwave

"Young, open the door" Daniels ordered

"Are you insane?" Young asked

"That was a direct order soldier" Daniels barked

Young gave an exasperated sigh and opened it, what they saw surprised them

"Where did the Athens go?" Harvest asked

"Gone, the same as the Multa." Young answered

"What about the main station?" Daniels questioned

"The Chief can take care of that for now" Harvest reasoned

[…]

Twilight Sparkle was working at the Ponyville Library; the mare was looking at a spell in her spellbook that seems to have just appeared

"A space spell?" Spike asked, "This actually interests me."

"More specifically it takes a single object from space and transports it from that spot to the spot the spell was cast." Twilight corrected

"You had me and you lost me" Spike rolled his eyes

"I think this should be tested outside the library" Twilight stepped out

She had all the things she would need, ink and quills and scrolls and maps and all known objects to be in space

"I hope to Celestia this won't be a dwarf star or a colossal failure…" Twilight aimed and fired into the vastness of space


	2. Contact

Chapter 2: Contact

Daniels sat in the back of the pelican, trying to decipher their next move. The Chief and everyone else went to the surface, but there was plenty of fighting to go on in the atmosphere as well

"I'm getting strange readings on the radar" Young said

"What frequency?" Harvest asked, suddenly worried

"Not one that'd make your explosives go off" Young answered, "I think it's a-"

The Pelican jerked, Daniels strapped in

"What's going on?" Young shouted

"Shut up and hold on!" Daniels ordered, "We're riding this one out!"

Luckily pelicans were built to withstand plenty of force, so the machine was fine. The belts held and the weapons didn't fly off, but the display screens cracked and shorted out

"Where are we going?" Young asked

"No idea" Harvest answered

"Hold on to your helmets!" Daniels warned

[…]

Twilight was waiting for the object to land, she saw a shooting star and wished that the object she hit wouldn't hurt her

The stars turned, Twilight looked through her telescope and saw that they were flying straight for her!

Twilight focused, she created a force field around Ponyville that should keep it from causing too much damage

The falling stars barely skidded over the force field before impacting into the Everfree forest behind her

"Spike? Get me my supplies; we're taking a look at those stars." Twilight said

[…]

Daniels opened his eyes; he was still strapped into the seat inside the pelican, the ship was on its side so he was hanging

"Sir, are you alright?" Harvest asked

"More or less" Daniels shrugged, unclipping himself and dropping to the forest floor

"What is this place?" Young asked

"No idea" Harvest said, "It doesn't register on my UGPS"

That was a shock, it was a Universal GPS, and that meant they were _far_ from any UNSC territory

"I'll use the Tacpad" Daniels said, "See if we can contact anyone in range."

When Daniels looked at the small device on his wrist, he felt uneasy at what he saw

"There's nothing" he said, "Not on the E band or even the K bands."

"So" Harvest looked at him, "We're on vacation?"

"Not even funny" Young snapped, "We're far away from any UNSC support and we're low on supplies."

Daniels walked up to the Private, she was going through the weapons that were inside the pelican when they crashed

Sadly the only assault rifle was broken from the crash, the only thing that seemed intact was a pistol, at least it was the only one left open for the ODST to take

Daniels picked up the magnum with the ammo that they had spare, for now they'd have to make do with what little supplies they had with them

"There isn't much in terms of transport" Harvest pointed out

"We can find some sort of civilization" Young was sure to be smiling behind her VISR, "We're ODSTs, we're trained for this sort of thing all the time."

[…]

Twilight was hidden in the bushes, several tall metal golems were speaking in some language she didn't understand, it was some short and heavy grunts and some gibberish.

She accidently brought aliens to Equestria, what were the odds?

'Well the odds are 150,403 to 1' Twilight calculated

The unicorn snuck away from the golems whilst they conversed with one another

But being alone in the Everfree Forest on your own in the middle of the night was never a smart idea, even if it was for science Twilight hadn't thought of the risks before venturing out.

So it was no surprise when a hungry looking manticore found her

Twilight backed away silently, not wanting to attract any more predators of this forbidden forest

The manticore leaped and Twilight couldn't help but yelp when she narrowly dodged the swiping paw, being bogged down by all of her scrolls and quills

Twilight figured she was close enough to be heard by anypony in Ponyville, "HELP!"

[…]

Daniels was standing as the two other ODSTs got some shuteye, but he heard a strange sound out inside the forest

He nudged the two other troopers awake, they sat up and stretched

"What is it Daniels?" Harvest asked

"HELP!" the cry came from not too far away from the camp

"Troopers move!" Daniels barked

The three ODSTs dashed out into the forest, turning on their VISRs in order to find the source of the cry

When Daniels crashed through the brush he saw two things highlighted by his VISR

One was a giant lion- thing. It had wings and a scorpion tail. It was highlighted red, meaning it was an enemy

The other one was a… Daniels did a double check, a purple unicorn that was highlighted a bright white, meaning there was no FOF tag

Harvest stepped in between the two creatures, holding his DMR towards the manticore

Young and Daniels stood on each of Harvest's sides, holding their guns towards the strange lion like creature

The purple unicorn tried to shrink away from the troopers, but they ignored her

Daniels fired a quick warning shot into the air, sadly enough it just angered the manticore

The manticore charged, Harvest and Young unloaded as much ammunition into it as they could

For Daniels time seemed to slow down, he turned around and saw the unicorn, they frightened the living daylights out of her

There was a loud crash in front of them, Daniels saw that the manticore was down on the ground

"What was that?" Harvest finally got to asking

"God knows what else we're gonna find on this planet" Young said

"How about a unicorn?" Daniels offered

Young turned around and saw the unicorn cowering behind a bush

"Oh you're kidding me"

[…]

Twilight wasn't sure why they hadn't attacked her the way they had the manticore

When one of them turned around to look at her, she saw the strange single eye they had, it was black, and it scared her more than the weapons they carried

But… what was it doing with its head?


	3. Quick Skirmish

Chapter 3

Daniels watched from behind as Young removed her helmet, letting her blond hair fall over her shoulders, her kind hazel eyes looking at the unicorn

Harvest followed suit, with his black hair wasn't cut recently and was commonly called 'shaggy', it fell over his blue eyes

Daniels sighed, and proceeded to take his helmet off, letting his brown hair fall out, and focused his green eyes, the air didn't seem toxic and seemed significantly sweeter than when he had lived on Reach

[…]

Twilight looked at the creatures, it seemed that they were wearing armor not robots. But the question lied in the fact of why they wore armor anyway, there wasn't many dangers in Equestria.

She wasn't sure why she hadn't bolted yet, the first one to remove its helmet was observing her

It turned around and made the strange form of speaking that they did, the one behind her just 'Actual aliens, and they aren't eating my face off.' Twilight mused

[…]

Young turned to face Daniels, "Where do you suppose we are?"

Daniels shrugged

He looked around the forest, the feeling of being watched wasn't leaving him, he peered into the trees of where it felt the strongest

[…]

The elite minor walked into the bridge, he ignored the brutes that were manning the weapons systems, and approached the supreme fleet admiral

"Admiral, we have located the Artifact" he said

"Are you certain?" the Admiral didn't turn around

"Yes, we are certain that the filth have not tainted it either." The minor answered

"The filth is there?"

"Miniscule" the minor said, "However the humans may be able to get close, let us not waste time."

"Set a course!" the Admiral ordered the brutes, "We will acquire the Artifact! Then the Great Journey is secured!"

[…]

Daniels looked to Harvest, "What do we do?"

"Until I can either make a satellite or repair the pelican" Young sighed, "We're stuck here."

Daniels looked around, "Well, I don't think it end well if we stuck around this forest."

"Good point" Harvest said, "Did you see any cover anywhere?"

"I think we passed a village on the way down" Young suggested

"Alright, let's get out of here." Daniels nodded

The three ODSTs checked their armor and weapons, then motioned for the creature to follow

Harvest kneeled by the ground, "This looks like a path to me, let's follow it to see where it goes."

Daniels simply grunted

[…]

Twilight watched the creatures closely, they checked their strange items and then one of them made a gesture, she guessed it wanted her to follow them

One of them spoke to that one, she guessed the one with the green was the one in charge

The strange metal golems walked down the path to Ponyville, she wondered why exactly they were headed there

'Are they going to attack Ponyville?' she asked herself, 'No, they wouldn't need me, they'd be able to find it easily.'

The fauna of the Everfree began to thin out, she was able to see lights of early dawn coming over the horizon

It was then that the young mare saw something that made her instantly scared

[…]

Daniels saw some pastel colors in the distance, he used his VISR to zoom in. There were a group of pastel ponies on their way to the forest, and didn't seem to notice the squad just yet.

"You see them Harvest?" Young asked

"Yeah, let's drop of this horse and find a way home." Harvest said

"Right" Daniels agreed, "Let's get to work."

Once they got within visual range the purple pony, as Daniels dubbed them, met up with the others

A small team of armored horses jumped out of nowhere, spears went flying at the troopers

Daniels and Harvest went back-to-back, blocking and snatching spears out of the air, while Young fired her DMR

A few of the horses dropped, until one of them raised a hoof and they stopped attacking

It stepped forward, and looked directly at Daniels

He made the universal gesture of 'come at me'

Daniels laughed, stepping forward in this one on one fight

[…]

Twilight was shocked when the royal guard attacked the golems, but she was even more so when two of the golems easily took down the entire flurry of spears

One of the guards stepped forward, challenging the lead golem

It laughed, and then assumed a battle stance

"What are the guards doing here?" Twilight asked

"We were worried about you" Rainbowdash said, "And what are those things?"

"I don't know" Twilight said, "But they didn't seem to be hostile until the guards showed up and attacked!"

[…]

Daniels assumed his fighting stance, the horse made a move and Daniels ducked under it, delivering blows to the unarmored stomach

The horse fell backwards before attempting to strike again, to which Daniels jumped back, causing it to overshoot, the ODST then flung out his boot, hitting it in the lower jaw

There was an audible crack, and the horse flew and landed in a heap, unmoving

Daniels eased out of his combat stance, "That wasn't hard at all"

"Careful what you wish for" Young pointed to something behind Daniels

He turned around and saw what looked to be an even larger horse, with wings and a horn. It wore a tiara and some strange necklace

"Someone's calling out the big guns" Harvest noted

The horse's eyes began to shine with a bright light, and its mane became spiky

Daniels took a step back, unsure of what was going on

It swiped with a hoof, Daniels was barely able to avoid the hit, Harvest and Young let loose with their rifles.

Daniels attempted to get a few hits in, but was mainly avoiding because he wasn't quick enough to hit and run, the horse then made a twist, Daniels jumped to the side, but was blindsided by a blast from the creature's horn

The ODST went flying, slamming into a tree. His HUD flickered, he nearly blacked out, but was able to hold onto his pain and remain conscious.

His HUD read his bodily functions as in critical state, he gritted his teeth

[…]

Twilight was shocked at the princess for knocking the golem into the tree the way she did. She was typically honorable and kind, this kind of behavior was beyond her

When the golem slammed into the tree all went silent, Twilight held her breath

The golem stirred, and it stood up, it removed the helmet, and the look of rage in its eyes was tangible

Rainbowdash looked at Twilight, "What?"

"It's not a metal monster, it's just a suit" Twilight explained, "I think the magical blast shorted out whatever was going on inside."

[…]

Daniels removed his helmet, there was nothing it could say that he didn't already know. He reached to his side and found the one thing he needed at this point

With a flash of light the ODST drew a blade of pure energy, Daniels assumed a fighting stance yet again

"This time, there will be no mistakes." He vowed

Young tried to get his attention, but Daniels ignored her

The horse gave a snort, and charged up another beam

Daniels braced himself, ready to take it

A single shot rang out

Harvest was holding a DMR, and the horse's horn appeared to have been the target

"No more mistakes eh?" he smirked

Daniels simply grunted

He turned back to the group of horses

The assailant flared its wings, and flew towards the ODST

Daniels held the sword tightly, then jumped into the fray


	4. The calm before the Storm

Chapter 4

Before Daniels and the horse could clash, a strange purple aura enveloped the two of them, keeping them separate

"Twilight Sparkle, what is the meaning of this?" the horse demanded

"Okay, tell me I'm crazy" Daniels pinched his arm, "But did you just talk?"

"What's wrong?" Harvest asked

"That might have been the mental trauma and the magical blast the princess gave you" the purple pony said, Daniels thought that this one was the one named 'Twilight Sparkle'

"Fantastic, I'm in a world with _talking horses_!" Daniels sighed, then he put his energy sword away

"Ponies" a cyan one corrected

"So…" Twilight said, "What's your name?"

"Maybe better circumstances for small talk wouldn't be after a fight like the one that just happened." Daniels said

"Perhaps you'd like to explain why you're here?" the 'princess' said coldly

"I'll get back to you on that, after we figure it out."

"That…" Twilight looked sheepish, "Was my fault."

Daniels and the princess looked at her

"Well, I was testing out the spell that lets you collect objects from space to study" Twilight explained, "I must have hit their ships."

"Wait" Daniels said, "'Ships'? As far as I know, there's only one ship with us on it."

"It's likely just rubble from the Athens" Young suggested

"Now can you let us out of this…? Bubble?" Daniels asked

Twilight complied, but once Daniels hit the ground he found that the adrenaline from the fight had worn off

With a cry of pain he fell to his knees, and clutched his side where the magic blast had hit

Harvest and Young came to help him up, the cyan pony looked at Twilight

"He needs to get to the hospital"

"What good will they do Rainbowdash?" an orange one with a Stetson asked

"They can at least stop the bleeding" a white one said, "He appears to be quite badly hurt."

"Maybe… If you hadn't hit first…" Daniels coughed out

"You attacked my subjects" the princess said, "I arrived while you did so."

"Actually princess" Twilight corrected, "They helped me get out of the Everfree unharmed, and the guards attacked them without warning."

"Oh dear" the princess put a hoof to her mouth

"News flash" Daniels coughed again, "If I don't get some bio-foam I might not even make it to the hospital."

Harvest complied, taking a canister out of Young's health kit

He injected it into Daniels's side, and the blood stopped flowing

"Now you said something about a hospital?" Daniels slowly stood up

[…]

Daniels was settled into the hospital bed, while Harvest went back to get some things from the pelican

Young was the only one in the room sitting down, waiting for the nurse to come in

The nurse entered, "Well by what we can figure out, you'll be just fine in a few weeks."

"The UNSC has plenty of advanced medicine" Young explained, "That might speed it up."

"How bad are the injuries exactly?" Daniels asked

"You had three cracked ribs, a nearly collapsed lung, heavy trauma in the brain, and a mild concussion." The nurse explained, "Four broken fingers and a cracked tibia, you're lucky that you're alive."

"That's what we're best known for." Daniels remarked

Harvest came in through the door, "Hey, I grabbed a few things from the pelican."

"My rifle!" Daniels gladly accepted the weapon from his friend

"I also got the guns we forgot to grab" Harvest gestured to the duffle bag he had, "We have more than a few packs of medkits, ammo, grenade cases, we're set for a while."

"I don't think they'll be necessary" the princess came in through the doorway

"Princess" Daniels acknowledged

"I feel we have not properly welcomed you to our fair land of Equestria" the princess went on, "My name is Princess Celestia."

"'Properly welcomed?'" Young scoffed, "I think that welcoming party was just fine."

"You shall not worry about getting attacked by our citizens" Celestia promised, "We're a rather peaceful country."

"Right" Daniels dismissed, "Any armor repair kits or upgrades?"

"I got some power gauntlets if you want" Harvest tossed the gloves to Daniels, "They're all over gloves, strong, and they can put out a repulse if you need to."

"For Young, she got a collapsible blowtorch. And for myself, I got active camouflage; it'll allow me to plant charges if I have to."

"As I was saying" Celestia continued, "You'll be given a house on the outskirts of Ponyville in which to live, until you can return home of course."

"How far is your technology?" Young asked, "You have any rockets?"

Celestia shook her head

"Satellites?" Harvest pitched in

Another head shake

"Any sort of computer?" Daniels asked

"None of those items"

"Well we're in deep trouble" Harvest sat down, "No idea what planet we're on, and no way to get back home if we even did get up there."

"We can make a makeshift satellite from the scrap of the pelican." Young suggested, "Then we might be able to link up with the UNSC battle net."

"Until then" Daniels said, "Let me see a medkit."

Harvest passed it to him, Daniels got to work

[…]

The elite minor walked back to the bridge, once he arrived he took in the blackness of slipspace on the screens

"Noble admiral" the elite minor said, "We are going to reach the planet within a month, the slipspace fluctuates around the location."

"The Artifact is strong indeed" the Admiral didn't turn around, "When we procure it the Great Journey is assured!"

The elite minor nodded, "What are your orders?"

"Put the soldiers is stasis" the Admiral said, "It will shorten the wait."

The elite minor turned to inform his brothers of the new orders

(To prevent confusion, elites refer to all other elites as their 'brothers' as they are kin)

[…]

Inside the second crater a sinister thing was awakening, the small mushroom-like creatures swarmed out of the hole and vanished into the forest

'**It is time that we spread once again…**' the tentacled creature thought to itself, '**Through rock and metal and time, we return to the universe…**'


	5. The verge of war

Chapter 5

Daniels was reading a book, the UNSC medicine they had was speeding up the healing process enough so he could move and would be fighting fit within the week

Harvest walked in and sat down, "So what do we do?"

"The pelican's in terrible state, but Young said she could get enough things to make a satellite from there." Daniels closed the book

"And then hope that we get found?"

"That's the best we can do, this planet doesn't have space travel and likely won't in our lifespan" Daniels sighed, "The best tech they have are sewing machines!"

"Good news and bad news" Young entered the room, "I got the supplies, bad news: we don't have enough fuel to get it up there."

"We can salvage enough things to try and make some right?" Daniels asked

"Not nearly enough to get it there." Young answered, "Even then, the odds of being found are pretty slim."

There was a knock on the door

Daniels opened it

"Joseph" Twilight said, she and her friends refused to call them by their rank and last name

"Twilight" Daniels responded

"I wanted to know if you and your friends would want to go to the library" Twilight said, "Pinkie said she wanted you there."

Daniels shrugged, "Young, Harvest, Pinkie Pie wants us at the library."

"Why? We already had our welcome party." Young asked

"We'll find out when we get there" Harvest put his helmet on, "I just don't want to be stuck inside like this all the time."

Daniels reached into the medkit he kept on his thigh, pulling out some stimulant so his wounds wouldn't hurt as he walked

"When did you keep that with you?" Twilight asked

"A few days, just in case."

Young and Harvest exited the house, closing the door behind them

"I think it's because Fluttershy found something" Twilight said as they walked down the path

"Fluttershy found something?" Daniels asked

"It was out by your ship" Twilight explained, "She wouldn't say what it looked like, but she seemed pretty sure it was harmless."

As they walked through town Daniels felt his heart begin to pump a bit faster, his moves coming a bit more fluidly and the ache from his bones melt, adrenaline

Something was wrong, and he could tell the rest of his squad felt it too

The Delta Squadron entered the library, Pinkie Pie was messing around with a small sparking machine

Daniels walked over and hefted the front off the ground, a camera appeared to be struggling to remain online

"What is it?" Twilight asked

"The UNSC Badger" Young answered, "Something use to identify planets."

"So that means you can go home right?" Twilight said, smiling

"Judging by the shape this thing is in, whoever sent this out was getting hit." Harvest put his hands on his hips, "Hard."

The UNSC squad leader looked at the screen, "Private, tell me what we're looking at."

"Hold on..." he turned a nob, and the screen came into focus, "Whoa, isn't that...?"

"The UNSC Delta Squadron." the captain said, looking at Daniels' chest emblem

"Should we extract them?" the squad technician asked

"We'd be in deep if we didn't." the captain sighed, "Fine, set a course."

"It'll take us a while to get there." the pilot said, "We'll have to jump there."

Daniels watched as the camera sparked, and then shut off

"Well, they'll have a hard time following that signal." he noted

"So what now?" Twilight asked

"We prepare for extraction" Harvest suggested, "That way we can get out of here fast."

"I agree" Young said, "The faster we're off this rock the better."

"And if the Covenant find Equestria?" Twilight asked

A silence fell over the room

"Then we have a problem." Daniels simply stated

"Do the Covenant like to party?" Pinkie Pie asked

"No" Daniels said; crossing his arms, "They like to kill all of humanity."

"Oh" Pinkie Pie stopped her bouncing

Daniels ignored her, "So, let's get our stuff together."

Over the course of the next week the Delta Squadron gathered all of their equipment, ammunition and available weaponry. Twilight and her friends were not sure of how they could help so they stayed out of the way.

Daniels had recovered ever so slightly, the bio-foam was working it's magic and he was almost good as new.

Daniels and his team met outside for lunch, using up the last of the MREs

Daniels sat down, a dull ache left in his chest, "So, not that bad of a place to crash land huh?"

Harvest took off his helmet, "Could have been worse, pastel ponies aren't THAT weird right?"

Young laughed, already chewing her food, "Of all things for the Delta Squadron to become famous for finding, ponies."

"I always figured it'd be destroying all of the Covenant" Harvest smiled, "But this place isn't nearly as bad."

Daniels stayed silent

"Hey Joseph" Twilight and Applejack trotted up

"Hey Twilight" Harvest waved

"Applejack and I were wondering" Twilight began, "How did your war start?"

"Well" Daniels said, "It began in the year 2525"

ONE LONG HISTORY LESSON LATER

"So you have no idea why they attacked you?" Twilight asked

"We tried to be diplomatic, but now that the Covenant found Earth." Harvest swallowed, "We may have already lost."

"Twi" Applejack said, "What if they're the last?"

"They can't be, the Badger..." Twilight looked at Daniels

"Judging by the state it was in it had been recently damaged" Daniels shrugged, "We don't know if we're being extracted or not."

Daniels felt his gut drop, he looked into the sky and a flash of purple signified a slip space jump

"Mother of god..." Young stood up

"What do we do Joseph?" Twilight asked

"We're in trouble now" Daniels put his helmet on, "The Covenant have arrived."

A/N: First, thanks for reading my story. Second, tell me what you think. Thirdly, Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read a story made by me. Leave a review to tell me what you think/make suggestions. Skarfly out.


	6. The battle Begins

Chapter 6

Daniels and his squad moved back to Ponyville, the citizens panicking at the sight of a giant ship in the sky

"You never answered my question" Twilight was still following the ODSTs, "What do we do?"

"The Humans have to leave" Princess Celestia was in the library where the team met, "Perhaps the Covenant will leave us alone then."

"So that's it" Daniels crossed his arms, "Leave us out there to die? Who's to say the Covenant won't enslave your race?"

"I will not allow such." Celestia answered back sharply

"What chance would you even have?" Harvest asked

"They have a point Princess" Twilight said, "From what I've heard, the Covenant would obliterate Equestria."

"Besides the point" Young interjected, "We don't exactly have a ride out of here just yet."

There was another flash of purple in the sky

Daniels looked out the window, "Something's telling me they're not here to kill my squad."

"What is that Joseph?" Celestia questioned

"That's not just a cruiser" Daniels turned around, heart beating faster, "There's a whole Covenant fleet."

* * *

The elite minor rose from his deep freeze, shaking off its effects

"Come my brothers, we will take this world and recover the Artifact." the commander said over the loudspeaker

There was a chorus of cheers from the elites, who quickly suited up for battle. There would be unknown dangers of this planet, and they had to be prepared for anything, this elite was loading up the Phantom they'd take to the surface.

An elite walked up, "Qualomee, how goes the Phantom?"

"We are almost prepared, we have all needed weapons. We only require our pilot." Qualomee answered

(Yeah, that's his name.)

Qualomee and his brothers loaded up onto the dropship, which began it's descent to the surface

* * *

Daniels was barking orders to Harvest and Young, the citizens of Ponyville had panicked even more once the other ships arrived

Twilight and her friends had gathered the Elements on the Princess's orders. After that they had met in the library, to wait for any news

Daniels had grabbed his rifle, plenty of clips and some grenades. He held onto the sword as he felt it wasn't something he wanted to leave laying on the ground.

"Even though we know they're here" Harvest walked up, "How exactly are three of us going to take down a Covenant fleet?"

"Who said we'd win?" Daniels flicked the safety off his rifle

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Harvest sighed, "Well, send us out with a bang right?"

* * *

The rookie of the ODST squad on the ship was the only one not on ice, he was in charge of navigation while the rest of the team got some shut eye

His curiosity of the Delta squadron was raging ever since he had seen their apparent leader. Even more so since the Captain seemed so unwilling to help them

He pulled up the records of the Delta squadron on the computer, apparently they were a crack team of ODSTs who were rivals with his own team, the Alpha Team

The files read like this:

_The Delta Squadron apparently has a sort of need to prove themselves against our hand chosen Alpha Team. As our team is highly skilled and both leaders are quite... conflicting, we have a volatile mix on this mission that you intend to send them on._

_Mission Log: June 26__th__ 2552, planet Reach_

_Jacob: "I told you, that I can easily sneak up and assassinate that elite without risk to anyone else!"_

_Alex: "And I'm telling __**you**__ that my sniper will easily be able to pick that elite off!"_

_Joseph: "Calm down both of you! We're going to attract all of the Covenant in the nearest mile!"_

_Alex and Jacob ignore the Delta Rookie Joseph_

_Alex: "You know, you think sooo highly of yourselves, even though you're just volunteers!"_

_Jacob: "So what if you were hand picked? We're all fighting and dieing for the same reason!"_

_*Elite plunges energy sword into Jacob's back*_

_*Joseph fires assault rifle at elite*_

_Alex: "Ambush!"_

_**File missing, please try again**_

the Rookie pressed a key, but it didn't show any new messages

The ship beeped, signaling that the ship would arrive at the planet any moment now

The rookie quickly went about setting the thaws for each of his teammates

* * *

The inhabitants of Ponyville quickly had themselves shut into their homes, lights out and as still as possible

Daniels was in an alley between Sugarcube Corner and one of the side buildings, relaying orders to his team and to Twilight, whom he lent a communicator

The sound of three Phantoms was unmistakable, as once Daniels had taken control of one for a mission, it didn't end well

"How many squads of Covenant do you think are going to be here?" Harvest asked

"I'm guessing at least twelve, depends if they jam packed those Phantoms" Young answered

"I'm not sure they expect us to be here" Daniels said, "They wouldn't need a whole fleet to wipe us out."

"They'll need more than that if I can help it" Daniels heard Harvest cock his gun

"Keep it together" Daniels warned, "They're dropping squads now."

The three covenant phantoms dropped off in a triangle around the town, not yet within its borders

"They're obviously looking for something" Daniels whispered, "Twilight, what's in the center of the triangle they've got?"

"Hard to tell" Twilight seemingly ruffled through some papers, "Could be town hall, could be anything at this point."

'I swear to god if it's the library they're going for...' Daniels didn't finish that thought

A few grunts were waddling through the town, not raising their guard in any way possible. Daniels smirked underneath his helmet

Before he could go out and kill the grunts a few elites followed up, and Daniels decided it was best to remain hidden, with the element of surprise on his side he could do quite a lot in this situation

'Remember the civilians' he could hear his old captain's warning, a distant memory, 'We're reckless, but we still do our job.'

That thought threw grenades out of the equation, they were simply too destructive for use in a civilian occupied town

There was the sound of a door opening, Daniels remained completely still, then there was the sound of plasma fire. And screaming.

* * *

Qualomee remained inside the phantom, watching the scanner for the Artifact, it was a bit boring but it suited the mission so he'd have to do it.

That was how it was for him, being one of the lowest he always had to do others dirty work. It didn't suit his honor nor did he find it fitting of an elite

The scanner pinged

Qualomee looked at a screen, there were strangely colored equines panicking and running around, being slaughtered by plasma

He may not have been a soldier on the field, but he could tell that they weren't fighting back

"What are they doing? These creatures seem like they don't want to fight."

Qualomee ran over to the weapons locker, he wasn't sure what he was planning but he knew that this slaughter had to stop

The scanner pinged again, and it showed some signals he didn't see for himself, but knew what they were

"Humans" Qualomee muttered, "Something else for me to deal with."

He jumped out the side

* * *

Daniels snuck up behind an elite, and snapped its neck

"These things really want this town" he whispered to himself, "What do they think they're going to find here?"

There was a discharge of plasma, Daniels wheeled to see Ponyville's residents being attacked

'So much for stealth' Daniels whipped out his assault rifle, "Going loud!"

Several grunts saw him and panicked, they must not have expected him. Another elite aimed his plasma rifle at Daniels, shouting a warning through the K-band

"_Time to blow these suckers to hell!" _Harvest said

"_Watch out for the ponies, we don't want any casualties._" Young pitched in

"Wasn't planning on it" Daniels gritted his teeth and fired

* * *

Twilight and her friends stayed inside the library, not one of them intending to go outside and risk getting killed

Twilight looked over the papers some more, with the Covenant's new locations she could tell what they were triangulating towards

It was the library

"Joseph" Twilight hit the COM, "We have a problem."


	7. Hell's Janitor

Chapter 7

Daniels keyed the COM, "What is it Twilight?"

"The Covenant, they're going towards the library"

Daniels swore under his breath, "Great, Harvest, Young, converge on the library. And kill any Covenant that get in your way."

_"Roger that" _Harvest said

_"On my way, don't party without me."_ Young had a smile in that tone

_"Ooh! A party?"_ Pinkie Pie's voice came through

"_Not now Pinkie_"it sounded like Twilight took the COM back, "Hurry, they're getting close."

Daniels reloaded his rifle, and turning to walk towards the library

[…]

There was little resistance and the squad met up at the library fairly easily, they had gathered up their ammunition and technology in the giant tree and this would be where their final stand would be

"There are several Covenant on their way here" Young said, "Did you get the chain gun fixed yet?"

Twilight nodded, as the giant weapon was ready for use, she seemed nervous that she was technically wielding it

Daniels checked the rest of their weaponry, they had a rocket launcher and two shotguns, a grenade launcher and several pistols, the chain gun and quite a few grenades

Harvest loaded a grenade into the launcher, "Not the way I expected to die."

"I always knew I'd die fighting" Daniels stated

"There are worse ways to go out" Young agreed, checking to see if her scope was working

"What's the plan now?" Rainbowdash asked, "Is there any was we could-?"

"There's no way for you to help us" Daniels interrupted, "Unless you can pull the pin from a grenade, you're better off inside."

"And it's either them or us" Harvest sighed, "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be" Daniels gestured outside, "Here they come!"

The sound of bullets and plasma filled the air, there were cries of pain from the grunts and several grunts of pain from the ODSTs who were able to avoid the shots better from a place with cover

Harvest ran out of grenades that the launcher could use, he swapped to the rockets instead

The Covenant attacked seemed to never end, and very soon Daniels found that the ammunition supply was getting low

"We're running out!" Young shouted over the racket, "What do we do?"

Daniels didn't get a chance to answer as several explosions on the Covenant side of the battle startled him

Rainbowdash was flying around the Covenant lines, dropping grenades that decimated the unprepared troops

Daniels had felt a lighter note in his heart, one that signaled that he feeling better

"Lay them out troopers!" Daniels called, to which his friends did in kind

The Covenant suddenly stopped firing, they parted and an elite in quite ornate armor walked up, pointed to Daniels and drew his sword, shouting a battle cry

Daniels stood up, jumping down from the top level of the library and exiting the front door

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked

"This elite is challenging me, leader to leader." Daniels answered, "I'm doing what needs to be done."

Daniels drew his energy sword, still unsure of how to use it, he mirrored the elite's fighting stance

The swords clashed, and Daniels felt the massive heat coming off of the energy blades, along with the Elite attempting to push him down

Daniels rolled to his left, as it quickly became a deadly dance of blades. He ducked and dodged, doing whatever was necessary to avoid the energy sword swinging at him

"He's not doing so well is he?" Applejack asked Young

"He's doing great, anyone else would've been cut to ribbons by now." Young answered

[…]

Daniels was beginning to tire out, all this constant movement was normal but the sheer stress of nearly getting sliced any second was taking its toll on him

The elite was evidently getting annoyed, as he swept out his foot and tripped Daniels, causing him to fall flat on his back

The elite raised his sword

"Stop right there" an elite minor was standing there, his weapon cocked

"Qualomee, what is this heresy?" the elite zealot demanded

"I have seen the deeds you and those you command have done" Qualomee stated, "These equines are not armed, they flee yet you slaughter them without mercy, can you tell me why?"

"The Artifact may lie within any one of them" the zealot said, "Either way, do you intend to stop me?"

"Give me your sword human" Qualomee said to Daniels

Daniels didn't hesitate, he wasn't sure what was going on but this time he followed his instinct to get back to safety

Qualomee took the sword, and assumed a battle stance

Daniels had made it back inside the library, and he used his VISR to see what was happening at this point

Qualomee and the zealot were in a similar deadly dance, however Qualomee was getting hits in as Daniels seemed incapable, and the ODST easily hid his annoyance

The zealot swung out his sword, and Qualomee dodged, bringing his sword down

For the zealot timed seemed to slow down, his life flashed, "By the prophets..."

Those were his last words

But it wasn't Qualomee who caused him to say that, Twilight felt chills as the zealot fell to the ground

"He died with honor" Qualomee said to the crowd, "Do you intend to do the same?"

Now since the squad of ODSTs had taken out most of the elites the crowd was made of grunts and jackals, who quickly fled

[…]

Daniels watched as Qualomee approached the door of the library, keeping tense in the case of any attack

"Human, I shall be keeping the sword."

"Yeah?" Daniels said, "Good to know."

It was an awkward situation, nobody really knew what to say or do, all except one certain pink pony

"Wee! This calls for a party!" Pinkie thrust a hoof in the air

Daniels looked at Harvest and Young, both of which seemed unsure but couldn't find much else to say

"I don't see why not" Daniels said, "What do you say, squid-face?"

"I believe you heard my name, use it." Qualomee made what Daniels expected to be a grin, "And I shall be there for your celebration Human."

"How can we be sure to trust him?" Rainbowdash asked Daniels

"We can" Daniels said simply, "Anyone who breaks their covenant is considered dead meat, even if undercover."

"So he's stuck with us you're saying" Harvest simplified

"Pretty much" Young took off her helmet, "While we wait we should gather up the last of our stuff, Benjamin that's up to you."

"Come on!" Harvest groaned, "You always leave this stuff to me!"

"Because you're just _so_ good at it." Daniels smirked behind his VISR

Harvest swore under his breath

"Now then" Daniels looked at Qualomee, "How will we get this one acquainted?"

"I can sleep in my phantom" Qualomee said, "I'm the only one here who can fly it."

"Pinkie's parties usually happen late" Twilight said, "That should give us time to assess the damage and repair most of the major problems."

"And console for the casualties" Daniels said, "The Covenant had killed quite a few."

The room was silent, death wasn't common in Equestria, let alone an attack that caused it

"Come on" Young said to Harvest, "I don't think they'll want us at the funerals."

The two left

Daniels looked at Qualomee, "Hey, do you have access to the Covenant battle net?"

"Quite limited, but I believe I can supply you with important information."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Spike coughed out a scroll before she could

_My faithful student Twilight_

_I am sorry for not being able to help during the attack on Ponyville, but I will be there at Pinkie's inevitable party, and make sure that the humans are there._

_-Princess Celestia_

"So she's still suspicious of us" Daniels was right behind Twilight, making her jump

"We don't know for sure if she's suspicious of you" Rainbowdash said, but they all could tell she didn't have her full heart in that statement


	8. The next Storm

Chapter 8

Daniels had cleaned up most of the mess left in front of Twilight's library, while Harvest and Young had helped around town repairing buildings and such

The clock turned, and the sun began to set, marking the beginning of Pinkie's 'Thank you for not letting us get killed' party

Daniels had been asked not to bring his rifle, but he remained in his armor and still carried a sidearm just in case. He had ordered the others in his squad to do the same

The party was awkward at first but once the punch had been passed out the ponies seemed to relax, Daniels could easily tell that a large portion of the ponies were drunk

It went straight against regulation to drink on the job, and as long as that cruiser was in the sky the ODST squad considered themselves on the job

Daniels and Harvest were talking by the snacks, discussing their next move

"Why were they even going to the library anyway?" Harvest asked, "It isn't like that's the biggest source of knowledge on this rock."

"That's what's got me confused, they must have been after something specific." Daniels shrugged, "But as far as I can tell there wasn't anything that they'd be after at this point."

"Well let's think about their usual strategy" Harvest held his helmet tightly, "They usually look for artifacts that they have in their bogus religion."

"There must have been some object of power in the library, but what could that be?" Daniels scratched the back of his head

"I will wait until the leader of this rock arrives" Qualomee seemed to have faded into existence, "Then I shall explain what the plan was, I know exactly what they're here for."

Daniels was surprised the ponies were so calm with Qualomee here, drunk or not they had the right to be terrified

"That's a fair point" Daniels looked around, "Where's the princess?"

At that moment the doors opened wide, two quite tense looking guards had opened the doors, they looked at Qualomee but made no sudden movements

Celestia entered the room, walking straight up to Daniels

"I want you to explain"

"The Covenant showed up, and attacked" Daniels said, "We fought them and won, but they'll be back, anything else?"

"What were they after?"

"I believe I can explain that" Qualomee said, "I believe you know of the Artifact?"

"I think she'll need you to elaborate on that" Twilight said sheepishly

Daniels took note that all activity in the party had stopped, every one of the ponies were staring

"The Artifact of Ages" Qualomee said

Daniels was easily able to see Celestia tense up, "I have no idea what you're getting at."

Daniels motioned for Harvest and Young to guard the doors, to prevent anyone from leaving

"I think you do" Daniels said, "Because you wouldn't be so quick about if you didn't have at least the vaguest idea."

"Don't accuse me of anything"

"I'm accusing you of hiding something" Daniels said bluntly, "and I expect you to tell us what it is."

The mood in the room instantly turned tense, it was palpable

Nobody moved, nobody even seemed to breathe

There was a flash of purple, something Daniels recognized as a slip-space jump. He casually walked over to the window expecting to see more Covenant, instead he saw what appeared to be a salvage vessel

'Human engineering, no doubt.' Daniels thought

He exited the building to get a better look, as the ship didn't appear to be doing so well, crashing somewhere in the Everfree

"_This is Alpha team captain Alex Johnson!_" the transmission came through, _"Something's attacked our engines! We're going to crash!"_

Daniels swore under his breath, "Looks like we're going to rescue the rescue team, and the Alpha team of all people."

"What's the plan?" Harvest asked

"You're going to make sure nothing levels this town" Daniels said, "Young and I are going to move in and secure the crash site, use everything you can to keep this place living."

[…]

Real quick before they left Daniels and Young had grabbed their respective rifles, grenades and what little ammunition they had left

Qualomee had decided to stay and help Harvest, "I see no point in getting killed by your uninformed comrades."

Daniels and Young were ready and had almost began their trek into the forest before getting interrupted

It was Twilight and her friends, they told him to be careful and good luck and all that stuff, to which Daniels simply grunted in response

They weren't sure what it was they were fighting, but guns tended to be the things you used in those situations, Daniels had turned on his VISR to see in the dark forest

The motion of the trees signaled quite a bit of life, although nothing attacked and nothing was likely to, what with the manticore showing exactly why not to

The crash site was about one click east, and that would take some time to get through the thick underbrush, luckily they could handle anything that tried to get at them

Young had set a HUD marker for the two to follow, as it would get irritating to constantly check their maps, they weren't very accurate

[…]

It was only a ten minutes at a quick jog, they were getting within 50 meters when they were attacked by strange mushrooms in a swarm, the tentacles were what had Daniels firing in a heartbeat

Soon enough they were being attacked by larger beings that bore little resemblance to anything they knew about, these things were mutated and rotting, Daniels could tell that they were already dead

Young signaled Daniels out of his thoughts, and the pair continued as they drew nearer to the crash site

Once it was in view they could plainly see that whatever this parasite was, it wouldn't be getting at that ship very easily, it appeared that Alex had managed to get the emergency landing gear in the proper position

The lasers that were attached to the front were laying waste to at least hundreds of mutations, looking like a battle right in the middle of hell itself, with the horrid things attacking a new arrival

And they were going in

[…]

Harvest had set up a little nest of weaponry in the top of town hall, the Covenant was making a smaller second assault on the small town, with Qualomee on his side the only thing against him was lack of ammunition

Harvest was manning the machine gun turret, taking down elites, jackals and grunts alike

Qualomee had out a beam rifle, and was picking off the elites who lost their shields, as Harvest wasn't the one with range on his side

Then the turret ran out of ammo, Harvest switched to dual pistols, before long even that was out of ammo

He felt panic rising in his chest, and fought it back down, this was _not_ the time for any rash decisions

Time slowed down as he turned to the left, and snapped up a sniper rifle

These were a weapon that he had never really gotten close to in his line of work, it was surprising on how he had never touched a certain weapon his entire naval career

Harvest wasn't the best with it, as his aim faltered, he missed several times. But then he took a deep breath, picturing the elites as moving targets from boot camp, scoring three headshots in a row

As he picked off more and more Qualomee went down to the entrance with his plasma rifle in hand, taking out the shields for Harvest to destroy

How come he had never used one of these before? He might have just found his secondary job


	9. Priority Alpha

Chapter 9

Daniels and Young were sneaking their way to the salvage ship, he wasn't sure why but he found the whole deal of Captain Alex with a salvage ship funny

They made it to a door on top, which the parasite hadn't seen. Daniels knocked on the door, it opened and revealed a heavily armored ODST wielding a SMG

"About time you showed up." The female voice said, "The captain wants a word with you."

Daniels looked at Young, who shrugged, then turned and entered the ship

Captain Alex Smith was standing by the monitors, Daniels had always thought that his name was hilarious and made a point to tell him that constantly

His face looked aged, even though he was a similar age to Daniels, he had sharp brown eyes, frown lines creased his face, and he was six inches taller than Daniels

"Private Joseph Daniels" he said, "Good to see you again."

"It's lieutenant" Daniels corrected, "And I'm not so sure about that second part."

"I see you've been recruiting" Alex gestured to Young, "How many have you accepted into your little squadron?"

"There's three of us" Daniels answered

"And you intended to take out an entire Covenant fleet?"

"As soon as we got our pelican together, yeah." Young shrugged, "But then we were told about your camera."

"So there are non-hostiles on this planet." The female ODST said, "My name's Abigale Lincoln by the way."

"You saw them, those things with us?" Daniels said, "You should pull up the video."

Which the rookie promptly did, there was a freeze frame of Daniels and Young, Twilight was half in frame

"My armor's in really bad condition" Daniels observed, "And the thing on the far right."

"You found _unicorns_?" Alex sounded incredulous, "How is that even possible?"

"I try not to think about what's possible here" Young said, "Like how they raise the moon and sun."

All room activity stopped

"They do what?" the rookie asked

"This world's main driving force is an alternate form of science" Daniels said quickly, "They refer to it as magic, and that's pretty much right."

"So you end up crashing on a future Covenant war site, discover that unicorns exist, and magic too?" Abigale whistled, "Someone's been busy."

"There's more" Daniels said, "But we should get to town first, then we can figure out our next game plan."

"Our engineer got injured" Alex said, referring to an ODST in the corner with bio-foam in his hand, "We need your tech master to help."

Daniels nodded at Young, who grabbed the equipment bag and went to the engine room

"If you're here I might as well introduce you to the new squad" Alex said, "Our engineer is named William Buchanan, our pilot you already met, our explosives expert is named John Morris, as well as being our rookie."

"Quite a structured squad" Daniels said stiffly, "Did they get upgraded like you were?"

"Yes, but only about half as I was."

"Private Ashley Young" Daniels offered, "She was the one who went to the engine rooms, then we have our explosives expert named Benjamin Harvest."

"Only three of you" Alex shook his head, "No wonder they know you for suicide missions."

"Do you have any places I can repair my armor?" Daniels asked, "This suit's a bit past its prime."

"Follow me to the armory" Alex said, "We can catch up later."

[…]

Twilight was hiding in the library, as gunshots and plasma fire could be heard across town

"I wish there was something we could do" Rainbowdash complained

"_If any of you so much as stuck a hoof outside you'd be toast_" Harvest said over the COM, "_Best leave it to those who've been trained for this._"

"_It's a miracle they've been keeping my brothers at bay for so long_" Qualomee said, "_They are thirsty for blood._"

"It's only been fifteen minutes" Twilight pointed out

"_With an attack force this large against two?_" Harvest scoffed, "_We should have been dead fourteen minutes ago._"

"_Fourteen and a half_" Qualomee chuckled

Harvest cracked a laugh, "_At least we've got the funny elite on our side._"

"_That should be the last of them_" Qualomee sighed, "_We will have time to rest now._"

The sounds of a ship launching shook the ground beneath their hooves, Twilight looked out the window

The ship that had crashed had now taken off and moved to a field nearby Ponyville, in the field, several strange creatures she didn't recognize fell off and burned up

[…]

Daniels looked at the helmets, they were all only one model

"These are prototypes" Alex explained, "They come with an experimental motion tracker."

"I see they're waning you on similar equipment of a Spartan" Daniels noted, "What about body armor?"

"Yours is too damaged to repair, so you'll get a set similar to mine." Alex said, "As for the Spartan comment, shut up."

Daniels rolled his eyes, Alex had always had this kind of humor, and it was hard to take him seriously

"It appears as if Young has completed the engines for a short hop, mind setting a LZ?"

Daniels took out a rough map he had made, and set the HUD point outside of town in a nearby field

"Ready to jump"

The rockets activated and they took off, landing a short time later

Daniels and the others converged in the observation deck

"Nice new suit" Young said

"I need to break it in first" Daniels commented, implying the motion tracker, "Anything I should know about this thing?"

"You've seen the alternate VISR color, otherwise there's nothing to note." Abigale said

The new VISR was golden, to signify that of a higher ranking UNSC member

The body armor was also quite a bit stronger, and he had been able to transfer his gauntlets in order to maintain a pressurized zone inside his suit

"I disabled the experimental shields" Will said, "So don't go out thinking you're god or anything."

"I'll try not to" Daniels smiled a bit, maybe he could avoid talking about his past with Alex

"As for the town, I think it's time we met the natives." Alex clapped his hands together

[…]

Harvest walked up to Daniels, "Someone's decked."

"I try" Daniels shrugged, "We brought the bacon."

"Bacon?" Twilight asked

"And they talk" Abigale sighed, "You three hit the jackpot didn't you?"

"Who're these guys?" Rainbowdash asked, flying and looking at Alex's VISR

"These guys are the Alpha Team" Daniels said, "They're the UNSC's best ODST team."

Each of the squad introduced themselves

"Pegasi too?" Alex face palmed, "This is too weird, did we die in that crash?"

"I asked myself the same question" Harvest shrugged, "You get used to it, in the end."

"The UNSC's best team?" Rainbowdash asked, "Better than you guys?"

"We've received the augmentations and training that a Spartan would have." Will said

"Although at a later point in life" Alex finished, "We're not Spartans that's for sure."

"But we're better than this run-on-the-mill squadron" Will folded his arms

"I'll show you run of the mill…" Young held Harvest back from punching Will

"You've already done that" Will had the smirk in his voice

"Lock it down, both of you." Daniels said sternly, "We need to assess what we have and what we need to do with what we have."

"We need to take out that Covenant fleet." Young said, "And as for what we have, the Captain should explain that."

"They have a salvage ship" Harvest crossed his arms, "They should be outfitted with mining junk."

Daniels sighed, "Did you set up the beacon yet?"

"Right before we got off the ship" Abigale answered

"Good, so the UNSC can get here." Harvest let the sarcasm ooze, "Because _that's_ what this planet really needs."

"It wouldn't be a good thing for your friends to show up?" Twilight quirked an eyebrow

"Employers, and I don't think they'll be as open-minded as we are." Daniels put his hands on his hips, "I think it'd be very bad if they showed up."

"We need all the backup we can get" Alex asserted, "This is the invasion force the size that attacked Earth, assuming you've heard how that went."

Daniel grunted, he didn't want to know how humanity did in that fight

"We're winning so far" Abigale said, "But that tide could turn any way at this point."

"No thanks to you" Will said snidely

Daniels looked at Harvest, who shrugged

"We've got something you likely haven't in all your hours." Daniels said cautiously

"What do you mean?" Alex was intrigued

"We have an elite that's in no position to kill us, therefore…" Daniels nearly laughed, "He's stuck with us."

"I wouldn't trust him." Will said quickly, "He could easily be a spy."

"Because spies kill several dozen of their own team, and let them know it." Harvest sighed, "How thick are you?"

"Alright smart guy" Will stood VISR to VISR with Harvest, "How many buildings have you blown?"

"Too many to count" Harvest bragged, "More than fifty of them with several platoons of Covenant in them."

"My record states I destroyed 343 in the last six months" Will countered, "And I don't use explosives."

Daniels decided to cut in before anything went sour, "Right, so what's in the what do we do tab? Any ideas?"

"Well I have one" Young said, "Your ship has slip-space functions right?"

"Yeah, but they got damaged. We can't use them without risking getting killed." Alex answered, "Why?"

"Well, we might have use of it, as the Covenant have slip-space too, the 'accident' would be well placed."

Daniels nodded slowly, "A slip-space sabotage, like on Reach right?"

"Kat was my inspiration." Young shrugged

"How about getting up there, any ideas?" Alex crossed his arms

"Your ship is outfitted with ODST pods" Daniels pointed out, "So why not use them to get on board?"

"The shields would take us out, if the Banshees didn't." Will said, "Unless…we use decoy pods, that's pretty clever."

"The shields have to drop in order for them to fire" Harvest smiled, "That means we can have a clear shot in."

"And then there's the threat of the Covenant in the bay" Morris spoke

It was the first time Daniels heard him say anything, he sounded more like a recruit than anyone else

"Except anything in the way of a pod would get obliterated." Young reasoned, "Then we have the advantage."

"Someone will have to keep the weapons systems focused on our ship though" Will looked at Morris, "Rookie, that's your job."

"Now that we've got a plan" Daniels clapped his gauntlets, "Anyone have any objections?"

"How are you getting down?" Twilight finally asked

"We're not" Alex answered, "We're going out, with a bang."

Daniels nodded, it wasn't the worst way to die

No, that worst way was currently preparing to storm Ponyville

A/N: This isn't any special thing, I just had the motivation for nearly 2000 words, yay me!


	10. Assault on the Super Carrier

Chapter 10

Daniels was as ready as he could be, wearing his new armor and wielding his trusty assault rifle, he tried not to think about how easily he could get killed in space, without any way to fight back

He could tell the rest of his squad we also nervous, as was told by their tense movement and clipped speech

Harvest had a shotgun, Young had her battle rifle, Alex wielded a turret, Will had a SMG, and Abigale had a sniper rifle

The team each carried four grenades, while Harvest and Will carried six, four frag and two plasma

It was nothing new that this was a suicide mission, but Daniels couldn't help but calculate their odds of survival, say if they managed to steal a phantom or something

It still boiled down to heavy losses to all out wiped, there was nothing he could think of that would save them

So here he was, inside a drop pod and waiting for the order to release, in normal circumstances the sideways position was ludicrous, but since they were in low-orbit they could use their air brakes and thrusters to get through space

His squad and Alex's faces appeared on the screens as they linked up

"_We should be ready within the minute!_" Alex called

"_This is gonna be fun eh guys?_" Harvest laughed, "_I'd like to see their faces when the UNSC catches wind of what we're up to!_"

"Let's stay focused" Daniels advised, "I don't want anybody getting cocky and winding up dead."

"_I'll be fine thank you very much_" Will said, "_I'm Alpha after all, you're just…Delta._"

"_Don't even start_" Abigale warned, "_We don't need you to get us into any arguments._"

Will grumbled but didn't protest, which meant Abigale was a higher rank

Daniels realized he had never been told their ranks, as if it was imperative he didn't know

"Launching in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" Daniels counted down, "Troopers! We are green and very, very mean!"

Harvest laughed as he launched, the rest were silent and serious

Halfway through Will began to laugh as well, and then it was just those two on the COM, while Daniels and the rest of the occupied pods began to avoid Banshee fire

"_They're charging up!_" Young's voice cut through

The plasma cannons indeed glowed a hellish red as they began to warm, now noticing the UNSC ship and the swarm it had sent out after the troopers

"Activate your boosters!" Daniels advised

The team did so, as they shot right into the Covenant's cruiser bay

Daniels wasted no time as he shot the explosive bolts off the door, allowing him to exit the pod

Several grunts and elites were running around, putting out fires and fixing broken pipes

Will had him backed up as they let loose with a flurry of bullets and the surprised Covenant were cut down easily, which just so happened to be a portion of them in the room

Daniels saw a red blip on his motion tracker, out of instinct he ducked and rolled, avoiding a plasma grenade that was thrown at him

Then Harvest climbed on the elite's back, shoving a grenade down it's throat, causing brains to explode all over the room

"That's a pretty sight" Will commented

"Well it can only get worse, take of your helmet for example." Harvest cracked

Will ignored him as they checked to see if the room was clear

Morris was in charge of keeping the battle-net focused on himself, and avoid going onto the subject of the pods that crashed in the launch bay

It was easier with the help of Qualomee, who was still in town using a wireless transmitter to stay in touch

"I look forward to seeing you again" Qualomee had told Daniels, "I wish to go myself, but your superior will not allow it."

Daniels had taken that as something to fight for, he still had to get back to his friends on the surface

"What's the condition of the bomb?" Alex called

"A bit roughed up" Young looked it over, "The timer's knackered but it should still explode."

"So we set the timer and get out?" Will asked, "It's never that easy. What's the catch?"

"We need to kill the fleet admiral" Daniels said, "That'll keep them confused long enough for us to make this happen."

"Abigale, Will, with the bomb" Alex ordered, "Young and Harvest, sabotage their slip-space drive if you can, Daniels and I have the admiral."

"Right" Daniels agreed, "I think this'll work."

And so they split up, ready to tackle this problem

[…]

Daniels had snuck up to the room with Alex, he was unsure of what to do once they got there so he was going to follow Alex's lead

Alex had snuck behind one of the barriers, sneaking from one to the other, Daniels had wired up eight total grenades to the walls most important wiring

Not lethal, but should cause one heck of a show

Alex had the admiral in his sights, but Daniels knew this plan was flawed, there were too many elites on red alert from the attack, and they were all armed

It hadn't taken long for one of the elites to spot Alex, but it was too late by that time

Daniels had fired a single magnum shot at one of the grenades

It had caused a chain reaction that destroyed a large portion of the controls, the lights flickered and all of the elites were watching Daniels

"Okay here's the deal" Daniels stalled, "You want something on this planet, the Artifact of Ages, but what exactly is that?"

"Like we would tell you human-_scum_!" One elite said

"I think he deserves to know" the admiral faced Daniels, "If he has made it this far, he must be the one in charge."

"Then gut him and we can take the Artifact!" One elite suggested, "It has been a while since the brutes ate a human."

"The Artifact requires patience" the Admiral scolded, "And this human deserves to know why we want it."

"Alright, explain it." Daniels crossed his arms

"The Artifact of Ages, a special item that the Holy Ones have given us in order to destroy mankind and all that stand in our way, those equines do not know what their land holds, and therefore they must be brought down." The Admiral said, "We can cut down this petty war at its roots!"

Then Alex successfully thrust a wayward energy sword through his chest

The rest of the elites roared in rage, turning to fire, but Daniels had his rifle out and was shooting


	11. Launch

Chapter 11

Harvest and Young were having an uneventful time, the slip-space drives had too much security on them, but physical sabotage was easy enough for them to do, Harvest stood guard

"Do you think this is a smart idea?" Young asked

"I'm sure we have to do it." Harvest said, "I've already thought about anything else we could do."

"Dying with the Alpha Team" Young stood up, "How about that?"

"Dying in battle after all" Harvest shrugged, "How about _that_?"

"Equestria doesn't deserve this" Young spat, "Why should the Covenant do this?"

"They want us dead, no reason." Harvest reasoned, "So it makes sense they want something else dead too."

"_We're surrounded! Activate the slip-space bomb!_" Will's voice cut through the COM

"_Harvest! Young we could use some backup!_" Abigale called

Harvest and Young then began to sprint back through the corridors

[…]

Just to finish off Daniels had set the self-destruct sequence in the engines, it should go right after the slip-space drives do, allowing for the best explosion possible

"Daniels, they need our help by the bomb!" Alex ordered, "Come on!"

Daniels got up and rushed through the corridors back towards the launch bay, he could hear the angry howls of brutes, he had hated fighting those things before and now he'd have to deal with them again

Once the doors opened he could see Harvest opening the door on the other side of the room, they nodded at each other and rushed the room

Harvest chucked two frags at Daniels, who caught them and threw them at Young, who snuck up on the brutes and shoved them in their belts

Alex took his turret and let loose a flurry of bullets and cutting off most of the brutes, Abigale used her sniper to get those that were distracted and Will killed any that were trying to rush Abigale

Soon enough the room was empty except dead bodies and the firefight carnage

"How much longer until it blows?" Daniels asked

"Less than a minute" Young answered

Daniels swore, "Everybody follow me I have an idea!"

The ODSTs followed him to the hallway, where Covenant drop pods waited for them

"You're joking" Will sounded incredulous

"You have any better ideas?" Daniels was already settling in, "No? Then hurry up!"

Daniels closed the pod and launched, hoping his squad was following suit

[…]

Daniels was attempting his best at piloting the purple drop pod but it wasn't exactly in English, he stayed in contact by using his COM

"_Are you sure this was a smart idea?_" Young asked, "_I don't want to die in space._"

"_We'll make it_" Alex said, "_Because we have to._"

"_At least it's better than on that junk heap._" Will commented

"_This is awesome!_" Harvest cheered, "_We should do this more often!_"

The COM began to cut out, Daniels noticed that they were going to land right next to Ponyville

What was that mass of god-knows-what heading there?

"Uh guys?" Daniels swallowed, "I think we forgot to mention the parasite to anyone in Ponyville."

[…]

Qualomee had his phantom and was already assaulting the massive hoard trying to get into Ponyville, luckily he had the fact that he was in the air or the Flood would have gotten him

The databanks showed the parasite to be named the Flood, and it was older than he might have expected

"The holy ones faced you" Qualomee caught himself, "The Forerunners, they defeated you and so can we."

The Covenant ship above them had long since exploded, leaving Qualomee as the sole defender of Ponyville, a title he'd wear with pride

And a little humiliation

Twilight had already said her goodbyes to the team that saved Equestria, and now she had her hopes lying in a lone elite who had abandoned his entire race in the name of honor

Not the best, but it would have to do

He missed the human teams already, they had a charisma that was rare in his own brethren, and they also had their charms, strengths and code of honor

The explosion that devoured the super-carrier was one that contained both fire and consuming void, taking in every ship too close

[…]

Twilight was in the library, feeling dejected and useless. Why couldn't she do anything against these things that invaded her home?

Fluttershy said that she would have to calm down, and take care of her friends. That was all any of them could do at this point

Still, the lack of contact that they had received from any of the ODSTs really hammered home the facts for her, they all died to save Equestria and they wouldn't be coming back to save them, only the eight foot tall alien was their hope

Justified worry? Very much so

[…]

The flood spread and rushed through Ponyville, although more times than not they couldn't get into the houses, most of them were really secure and the infection forms were just not cutting it

Qualomee wasn't able to keep the Flood at bay even with all three turrets working full blast, there was very little he could do here

Then something touched down from space, and it wasn't the purple pods that launch from covenant vessels

Mining lasers blasted the Flood to kingdom come, and Morris's voice cut out of an intercom on the massive hunk of steel

"_Come and get it, if you think you're tough enough._"


	12. Warning Signs

Chapter 12

The Flood weren't much of a match for a full-fledged flying vehicle, especially one that utilized superheated plasma, this ship was perfect for taking down the Flood

Morris had the weapons set on automatic, as he perused the files left on the computer, he trespassed onto a clearance level 10-X file, and it held the rest of the file he had been reading before

_Planet Reach_

_July 29__th__ 2552_

_Joseph: "Sit still, you'll jostle one of your ribs."_

_Alex: "That was a complete disaster!"_

_Daniels: "You're telling me."_

_Alex: "There were eight of us! And now I'm the last one!"_

_Joseph: "Sorry I don't happen to be on your important radar."_

_Alex: "The pelican should be arriving sometime within the next three hours, you finished yet?"_

_*Joseph puts medical tools away*_

_Joseph: "You'll be fine, those upgrades saved your life then."_

_Alex: "Then what saved your butt?"_

_*Joseph shrugs*_

_Joseph: "Luck? Just got here so it wasn't like I'm good at this or anything."_

_*Alex nods slowly*_

_Alex: "Not special at all…"_

_Subjects Joseph and Alex only survivors, extracted from the planet reach on the ship Essence of War, a UNSC battle cruiser that had been stripped of its dual MAC-Cannons. Subjects left to recuperate_

_They have passed their test_

**End File**

Morris scratched the back of his head, what on earth did that mean?

[…]

Qualomee was tracking several objects falling from the wreckage, they seemed to be moving in odd ways as they nearly crashed into Ponyville, landing in the field

He saw a large amount of Flood amassing there, he went to the controls and flew his phantom over to the crash site

[…]

Daniels heard them hit their target, several bangs on the outside signified life, he found the release and shot the purple door off of the pod

Then he began to fire as he was quickly besieged by the Flood

His backup came quickly as the other pods landed, and the rest of the teams were now forming a semicircle Abigale, who still clutched her sniper rifle

Ammunition was low after the assault, grenades were vital to this fight and now they were out, thinking fast Daniels ripped open a compartment in the pod

There sat a plasma rifle, and several grenades

"Get your ordinance from the pods people!" Daniels shouted, "We'll need everything we can get!"

Everyone else soon wielded Covenant weapons, Daniels heard something power up behind his head and instinctively ducked

Right as several plasma grenades were launched at some more flood, Harvest was holding a Covenant grenade launcher

"These babies pack a punch!" Harvest laughed

Daniels smiled and quickly got back to work, even with these weapons they were quickly running low on breathing room

Then he heard a phantom behind them sounded, so Daniels turned to look

Qualomee turned on the gravity lift, "Come humans! We must be swift!"

Alex looked at Daniels, who nodded, they had no time for doubts now

One by one, the ODSTs loaded up onto the phantom, and it took off back towards Ponyville

[…]

At first, many of the ponies had been incredulous that that troopers had returned, but true to their word, they had survived the battle on the super carrier

Morris had the systems set so no Flood were able to enter Ponyville without being obliterated, it was so precise that not even an infection form could trick it into destroying a house

Daniels looked at his new armor, it wasn't too worse for wear, comparing to Will and Abigale

Their armor was dented and singed, blood and the occasional brain chunk stuck to it like flypaper, naturally Rarity was appalled more than anyone at the sight of their outfits

"You simply cannot go around wearing that dear!" she fussed over Abigale's suit

"It's my job, I'll be fine." Abigale persisted

"Captain, I assume you have spare suits for them?" Rarity asked

"Uh…Yeah why?" Alex questioned

"Perfect! I will have to start designing on them immediately!" Rarity brightened, "Don't you worry! I'll have those suits ready for fashion's eyes in no time!"

Daniels suspected she just wanted to be out of there

Twilight took a more logical approach to their appearance, asking questions on how it happened and how they survived

"I had told Princess Celestia about your team going up there" Twilight said, "She hasn't written back."

"Wee!" Pinkie bounced, "Sounds like fun! Did you enjoy the ride?"

"It was amazing!" Harvest took off his helmet, "Nobody's done that in the UNSC before!"

"Really?" Applejack looked at Daniels, "Then how'd you figure it out?"

"I wanted my team out of there alive" Daniels said, "I just found out how to do that."

"It was a bold move" Alex conceded, "It worked, that's all that matters."

"We could have blown up any second" Will sounded excited, "That was the best drop I've had yet, and I didn't even know how to fly it!"

Daniels tuned them out, he could taste something in the air, something odd

Spike burped, a scroll materialized but in the talk nobody noticed

Spike waddled up (even though he wouldn't say 'waddled') and gave it to Daniels, telling him to give it to Twilight while he went to help Rarity

Daniels had no qualms, he sat back and read the scroll

_My faithful student Twilight_

_It is a true shame that Joseph and his friends had to die, as they have left some threats uncared for, and it is not convenient for us to handle them ourselves_

_As much as I had dislike for him, he was well spirited, if not a bit foolish, there was a large amount of sacrifice they all gave, however I do not believe this does halt the Covenant, if they know about the Artifact of Ages, then they'll do what it takes to get it, and use it_

_I have not been entirely honest with you, I do know what it is, and now that Joseph and his friends are gone we will have to use it, gather your elements and meet me in Canterlot as soon as it's safe_

_-Princess Celestia_

'Well she cared' Daniels thought to himself, his own thoughts dripping with sarcasm

"Hey Joseph" Twilight was looking at him, "Was that for me?"

Daniels tossed the letter to her, "We're going to Canterlot."

"Tell me that's not its name…" Will groaned

"Apparently" Daniels shrugged, "But I did have it called that the princess knows about the Artifact, and we all know that the Covenant aren't done yet, they'll be back."

All of the relief from the victory drained out of the room, they all had fought the Covenant, and the Covenant didn't give up.

"Get yourselves equipped" Daniels ordered, "The Captain will stay here with his squad and ship, while Harvest, Young and I will go to Canterlot."

"Not happening" Alex asserted, "Harvest can stay, I'm going."

"Why do I have to stay?" Harvest complained

"I'll stay" Young diffused the situation, "You three go ahead."

Daniels regarded the Captain, "She doesn't like me, I'm pretty sure she won't like you."

Harvest laughed, "Nor will your armor stand as well."

"So the princess did that to your suit?" Alex sounded approving, "When did that happen?"

"It was a misunderstanding" Daniels said, "Before we got communication up and running."

"Then I won't have to snap anyone's neck" Will cracked his fingers

"Ignore him" Alex advised Twilight, "Never knows when to shut up."

"Off to Canterlot, once we get equipped." Daniels said, "You may have the military control, but you're the opposite of diplomatic."

Alex snorted, Harvest laughed, while Young and Abigale exchanged glances

"Fine, you're the Human-Equestrian Ambassador" Alex conceded, "But one sign of trouble and I'm pulling the trigger, got it?"

"Understood, Captain." Daniels rolled his eyes behind his VISR


	13. Filler

Chapter 13

Daniels was sitting in a rather small bunk on the train to Canterlot, Harvest had the bunk on the other side

"An ambassador to an alien race, wish it was under better circumstances" Harvest sighed, "Still, you're the best choice for this sort of op."

"What do you mean?" Daniels asked

"You've changed since we first got here" Harvest shrugged, "Started caring for something other than your squad."

Daniels opened his mouth to protest but stopped to think, normally saving civilians was part of the job, but over the course of the crash he found that he was starting to become attached to this place

It wasn't nearly as hellish as war back on Reach was, he vowed to not let this planet end up like Reach

"I'm hungry" Harvest said, "Let's go to the dining cart."

Daniels left his helmet by the bunk as he and his best friend walked to the dining cart, as they sat themselves down they began to chat a bit more

"This place is really weird" Daniels looked at Harvest, "But in a way it's sort of nice."

"Won't be much longer if the Covenant get what they want" Harvest pointed out, "Guess that's why you're so determined to keep this place intact."

Daniels nodded, "I think it should stay like this, I don't want this place becoming like the rest of the war."

"We have the guns to do it" Harvest cracked, before flexing

Twilight trotted into the dining cart and sat next to Daniels

What was strange is that she was the only element bearer allowed to go, Twilight had insisted that she had protection so the royal guards would not have to escort her

Twilight seemed nervous more than Daniels felt, which was saying a lot, being an ODST going into a potentially dangerous situation and not being allowed to shoot your way out does that to you

At least Daniels knew where his loyalties lie, or so he wanted to believe, he had been finding it hard to believe some of the policies he had followed and even carried out after seeing how this place handled things

Twilight wanted there to be no troubles with this meeting, and the princess didn't even know Daniels was going to show up

Twilight made sure to order for the two ODSTs, as neither of them knew much of the cuisine here, during their stay they usually had their MREs

This was their first real meal in a while

Young was making herself busy inside the laboratories and the weapons upgrading facilities

She had Daniels' assault rifle as he was only allowed to bring his sidearm under ambassador laws, in other words the UNSC friendly contact protocol

So she was taking the time to work on the rifle, with some technology 'borrowed' from the Alpha Team the private was creating some stronger alloyed bullets and explosive rounds

Young also took it upon herself to repair all of the damage the weapon had suffered since their crash, as the alloy on the bullets was cooling she heard the doors open

"Your friend Rarity is looking for you" Abigale said as she walked up, "Something about 'stylish new armor'"

Young rolled her eyes, this shouldn't take too long

"Alright, she did use your stuff after all, want to take a look?"

"Sure" Abigale answered, "I haven't had a chance to do much since we landed, and nothing's happening."

Young and Abigale got out of the ship, which on closer inspection was very closely shaped to a Halcyon class cruiser, but smaller

They took the short walk from the town hall to the boutique, Rarity was waiting for them inside

"Ah, good to see you darling." Rarity said upon seeing Young, "Are you ready for the new suit?"

"Alright" Young said, "Might as well."

*One Armor Change Later*

Young had initially denied wearing the pink suit, as she had disliked the idea of strutting around wearing a bright pink ODST uniform, but when she saw it she had seen it was more of a magenta

She also knew that bright colors would blend in well with the bright colors of Equestria, it was a no brainer

"I took the liberty of changing the color of your visor" Rarity said

Indeed it was now a lighter magenta, and it went well with the color swapped symbol of the Delta Squadron

Abigale had also been given a suit, this one was purple and black at her request

Morris walked in, nearly doubling over in laughter

"You're not catching me wearing a pink suit, no way." He managed to get out

Abigale and Young exchanged glances, before nodding

Soon Morris was sporting a bright pink suit, adorned with flowers and the occasional bumblebee

"And…Shot." Young sent a picture to Daniels, "The boys'll love that one."

[…]

Daniels had nearly sprayed Twilight with his water, before gaining control of himself

"Harvest, behold, the newest member of the Alpha Team." Daniels showed Harvest the picture

Harvest did end up spraying Twilight with his water, who quickly proceeded to glare at him

"Oh my god, that's amazing!" Harvest ignored Twilight

Daniels got up and grabbed a towel, tossing it in Harvest's face, "No need to overreact, he's just a rookie, no reputation to protect."

Twilight looked at the picture, taking the towel from Harvest, "Do you do this sort of thing often?"

"You have your friend Rarity to thank for that" Daniels said, "That and the ingenuity of the boredom that can come from two off-duty ODSTs"

"The rookie will have a lot to do if he wants to get his rep out of the trash" Alex appeared behind Twilight

Twilight nearly hit the ceiling, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Daniels regarded the Captain, "I take it you've been enjoying your time here?"

"The sooner I'm off this rock the better" Alex said, "But that's up to the UNSC, not to me."

Daniels grunted

[…]

The next day

[…]

Young woke up, Rarity was beating down the door to the ship

Young opened it to ask what was going on but was soon met with a scroll thrust into her face

She read through the scroll

"Mother of god…"


	14. The scene

Chapter 14

Daniels stepped off the train, the air smelled of money, not too far off from the train station was a load of high end shops

Harvest stepped behind him, "I was hoping we wouldn't have to walk through this sort of place."

"The princess was clever in choosing who would live here" Alex said, "We can't get through without her catching wind of us being here."

Daniels nodded, "Snooty people, the best defense system."

Twilight remained silent as they walked to the castle

The walk was uneventful, the town seemed empty, Daniels wasn't familiar with the town, but based on Twilight's nervousness he could tell something was off

Upon reaching the gates they weren't met with an impractical pantheon of ponies

(See what I did there?)

Instead the gates had no guards, it was abandoned

"Stay on your guard kid" Alex said to Harvest

Daniels was supposed to be the one not to draw his gun, so instead he made sure to stay taut in case of any sort of hostile interference, even though he wasn't expecting it

They advanced through the empty corridors of the castle, soon reaching the throne room doors

Twilight went ahead, and knocked

The doors slowly creaked open, and Princess Celestia was looking out the window, she seemed hurt fairly badly, with several cuts and a large gash on her right flank

She looked over to look at Twilight, then registering the ODSTs

"It's a miracle…" she said, "We may stand a chance now."

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed, "What happened?"

"They came quickly, taking as many of us as they could" Celestia looked haunted, "Those infectious beasts."

Daniels tensed, "You mean the Flood?"

"They were distracting us!" Alex slapped his COM, "Abigale, Will, How are things down there?"

"_Things are fine down here, but we got the message._" Young said, "_Should we get moving?_"

"Take a warthog, and get over here." Daniels ordered, "I think I'm getting something on the E-band."

Indeed the E-band was reacting, there was a flash of purple as a UNSC ship came into orbit

"_This is fleet commander Charles Cutter, is the Alpha Team reading me?_"

"Alpha Team Leader Alexander Washington" Alex said, "We read you."

"_You've got a large swarm of Flood heading towards the castle on the mountain_" Cutter said, "_We're going to extract you there!_"

"Young, Will, Abigale" Daniels said, "Double time it! We're not letting you stay behind!"

"They'll never make it before the swarm hits!" Harvest said

"No, but I know what's going to keep them at bay." Daniels walked up to the throne and lifted the cushion, finding a UNSC weapons crate

"I'm glad I forgot to grab all of the equipment from the pelican." Daniels grabbed a few rifles, a rocket launcher and grenades

"Suit up people" Harvest said, "We've got some MVPs to take care of."

Daniels made sure he was fully equipped, grenades and a rifle, they would have to take up special positions in order to protect the underground areas where the ponies had been kept in hiding

[…]

Daniels held a spot by the train station, where the Flood would have the easiest chance of getting in

He had made sure to booby-trap the entrance, as it was simple to rig up a few grenades and prevent the combat forms from getting anywhere close

He could see them approach, and all hell broke loose once again

Daniels had to make sure to stay light on his feet and not get surrounded, chucking grenades into the fray, and firing his rifle to thin out the opposition

As skilled as he was, the sheer numbers soon began to drive him uphill, as the fight became more and more close quarters he began to wonder where his backup was

[…]

"You heard the man! Move it!" Will shouted as Abigale down the rail road tracks

"This is the quickest way to the castle" Young said, looking at the map, "We'll have to keep any Flood away from us as we get moving."

Will took up the position on the turret, cutting down any and all of the Flood that were foolish enough to rush them

"Are we forgetting something?" Young asked

"Not that I know of" Abigale said, "Why?"

"I feel like we've left something important behind" Young said, "What about your ship?"

"Its fine" Will said, "The ship was dispensable."

Young settled in uncomfortably, she wasn't sure what she was missing, but it could very well mean life or death

[…]

Harvest had the rocket launcher, there were so many rockets he had little trouble, as he had no qualms about the windows of any high end shops

Besides, would it matter if the ponies survived? They could rebuild their shops, but life was more important here.

"Woo! Take that!" Harvest shouted, "You're not getting past me!"

Then all at once the Flood retreated from this entrance, he would have been relieved, except where were they going?

[…]

Daniels was struggling to fight off the sudden influx of Flood infection forms, he was lucky his suit was made for the raw powers of a solar flare or he might not be alive at this point

Then there was the sudden roar of an engine, a warthog tore past him and the turret obliterated any and all Flood at the point

"We've wasted the gas" Young said, hopping out, "Where's the evac?"

"Top of the castle" Daniels said, "Let's move troopers!"

They retreated to the castle, the Delta Squadron taking up defensive positions as the Alpha Team got on board

"Come on!" Alex shouted at Daniels, "We can make it!"

"This planet is not going to become a breeding ground for the Flood" Daniels said

"What about you?" Will asked

"We're dispensable" Daniels said, "You go, they need you in the war."

"Goodbye" Alex said, "And good luck"

"You too captain" Daniels waved, and the ship soon left atmosphere

"Daniels! Get down here we need backup!" Harvest shouted

"On my way!"


End file.
